What Are Friends For?
by ALlover29
Summary: As requested from vickydetos, another Sick!Steve fic. Steve is targeted by a virus, will the Avengers be able to save him in time? /There isn't a lot of romance in this and there is minor Hulkeye/ I hope you like it Vicky. Reviews are very welcome.


No one had noticed at first. Steve would cough and one of them would ask him if he was okay but he would brush it off. Saying it was the futuristic air.(Tony called bullcrap on that one.) Then that dissolved into full on coughing fits and _that_ caused bloodied tissues to be a regular occurrence in trash bins all over Stark tower. No one knew what was wrong.

Of course they weren't worrying. The Avengers only worried about giant turtles destroying New Jersey and mutant monsters crushing the New York subway tunnels. They had it under control and Steve _would _get better. But one had to wonder, right?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tony walked into the living room to see Steve just sitting there on the couch, no one else was around. The tv wasn't on so Steve had to be staring into space.

"Hey, Cap. Air looking good today?" Tony teased but Steve didn't say anything. Tony came around the couch to see Steve from the front. What he saw sent a cold shiver through him. Steve was pale, more pale than he was before the serum(Tony had found the pictures). Dark circles hung under his eyes showing he was either not sleeping or he was getting punched regularly in the face. But worst of all, Steve's eyes were dull, free of their usual brightness. Tony kneeled in front of him and took a closer look.

"You feeling okay, Steve?" Tony rarely called Steve by his first name. Preferring to call him by his nicknames. Steve finally looked him in the eyes and Tony shuddered.

"I feel fine." Steve muttered in a gruff voice and Tony laughed quietly. He stood up and crossed his arms.

"Come on, let's get you to bed you big loon." Tony said and Steve's head snapped up to glare at him. Tony took a step back from the intensity.

"I said, I'm fine." He growled and stood up, his movements slow and lethargic. Tony took another step back and his hands out in front of him.

"Okay, calm down." Tony said and was about to take another step back when Steve suddenly collapsed. Tony immediately knelt beside him and checked to see if he was breathing. His breaths came in shallow gasps and weak heartbeat.

"Romanoff, Barton, get in here!" Tony yelled and then they were both there, helping him get Steve to a bed as quickly as they possibly could. Clint called Fury as Natasha and Tony arranged Steve on the bed. Clint ended the call and turned to them.

"Well? What did he say?" Tony asked impatiently. Clint sighed.

"Bad news. Fury is too far away, so is the Helicarrier. They can't get medical assistance to us."

Clint said and they all looked at the shivering body of Captain America.

"Dammit." Natasha hissed. Tony took control.

"Barton, get a stretcher from my lab, we'll move him to Bruce's lab. Romanoff, get everyone else down there. We need the extra hands to watch over him." They headed out to do the things Tony had requested. Tony walked over to Steve's unconscious form.

"Everything is gonna be okay, Steve. You'll get better." Tony said and Steve seemed to relax as Tony set a hand on his cold cheek.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

They transferred Steve onto the stretcher and moved him to Bruce's lab. Bruce had all the works: a heart monitor, IVs, and a lot of the appropriate medicine. They had changed Steve out of his clothes and into some light weight items. Steve's heart was beating steadily now as they sat around Bruce's lab.

"What's happening to him? I thought the serum prevented him from getting sick?" Natasha asked out loud. They all looked to her then back to the sleeping superhero.

"There might be some exceptions to the serum." Bruce said just loud enough for them to hear as he inspected a blood sample from Steve under a microscope. "A mutated virus from some of the crazy villains we fight on a regular basis could do the trick. Steve's blood stream is crawling with it. Someone really wants him dead this time." That made something click in Tony's mind.

"This all started with coughing, right? So that means this has been in his system for about...two weeks." Tony said in disbelief. Steve had been, possibly, dying this whole time. Tony felt a pit open up in his stomach. Then the heart monitor screeched and they all rushed to their friend. Steve was convulsing. When Bruce tried to see if his pupils were dilated he could only see the whites of his eyes. Bruce told them to back up a little but told Tony to keep Steve's head in a fixed position on the pillow. Bruce injected something into Steve's arm and the monitor's screeching stopped and evened out. Steve panted in his sleep.

"God, where's Fury when we need him?" Clint whined as he looked at the sick Captain. Natasha put a hand on his shoulder, a usual gesture between the two. They were all tired and on edge.

"I'll take first watch. Just try to stay close." Tony spoke up and they all turned to him in disbelief. They looked like they were about to protest when Tony's features darkened. "I'm not leaving him. Bruce, be prepared to be on stand by. You seem to know what you're doing." Tony said as he pulled a chair up to Steve's gurney. He sat down heavily to make a point and they all filed out soon after. Bruce assured him he wouldn't be sleeping at all tonight. Tony took Steve's hand in his own.

"You'll get better. Bruce will find a cure or maybe it will pass." Tony said more to console himself than Steve, who probably couldn't even hear him. Tony sniffed and tried to keep tears back. He didn't know why this was getting to him, Steve and Tony had never been close. Tony wiped his tears away and shook his head.

"You better not die, we couldn't handle that, not now or ever. Not after what we've been through as a team. Steve, you stay alive. You're still needed here." Tony said as he rested his forehead against the gurney mattress. Then he felt movement from inside his grasp. He looked up to see Steve looking at him through squinted eyes.

"Don't worry about me, Tony." Steve whispered and Tony held onto every word, as if it might be his last. "I'm still fighting the good fight. A soldier never dies without a fight." Steve said and closed his eyes.

"I won't let you die, Cap." Tony said as he sat back in his chair. He held onto Steve's hand like a lifeline and used his other to keep two fingers on his wrist.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Natasha stepped into the lab and saw Tony sleeping in his chair. _Idiot. _She thought and made her way over to Steve's side. Tony had a firm grip on the super soldier's hand. She smiled slightly at the sight and set a bowl of cold water and towel on the metal table by the stretcher. She gently rested a hand on Steve's forehead and felt his skin burning. She quietly wetted the towel and set it on his forehead. She dabbed at his forehead, wetting the towel constantly to keep his face clean and cool. She didn't usually show her mother hen style and the only person that knew about it was sleeping with his bow and arrow at the moment. After a while Steve's face began to cool down and when she had determined his fever had gone down considerably, she placed a light kiss on his forehead.

"Get better, солда́т." She whispered and left with the bowl and towel. No trace she had ever been there except the faint smile on Steve's face.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Steve made it through to the morning. They gathered around Steve's makeshift bed to have breakfast and discuss what Bruce had found in Steve's blood stream.

"It's a form of virus that is multiplying and attaching to Steve's blood cells and affecting the serum compound. That's what's taking its toll on him, it's affecting the serum in his whole body." Bruce said and a deadly silence hung over them.

"Can you create a vaccine?" Clint asked and Bruce sighed. Tony knew what the scientist was going to say.

"Viruses cannot be cured, Barton." Bruce said and Tony rubbed a hand over his face. There had to be a way. Anger coursed through him. He slammed his fist down and they all jumped.

"There has to be a way. We have to find one." Tony seethed. Then Bruce jumped up and pointed to his head, murmuring something. He looked excited. He was onto something.

"I might not be able to cure it but I could suppress it. If I can create a suppressing serum his body can fight it off on its own." He immediately sped off to his microscope and started writing notes on his notepad and whiteboard. Clint wandered over and watched the scientist as he fluttered over his equipment. Sitting out of the way so he could watch in fascination. Natasha walked over to Tony and gripped his shoulder tightly in her iron grip.

"Go get some fresh air." She said, Tony thought about disagreeing but her grip tightened. He stood up and stretched his legs. He leant towards Steve and whispered, "I won't be far." He made his way to one of the living rooms and stepped out onto the balcony. It was cool and crisp, it was refreshing and he could feel hope welling up inside of him. He could feel the caged emotions bubbling inside himself but he pushed them down. Steve would be fine and everything would go back to normal. He was only gone for a few minutes, then he heard Natasha screaming something but it didn't matter, he was off like a bullet. He got to the room in time to see Steve lean over the side of the bed and throw up on the floor, Natasha was rubbing his back. Tony rushed to his side.

"Steve, it's okay. You're okay." Tony said as calmly as he could. Natasha moved aside to give Tony room. Steve hacked up whatever his body was trying to get rid of. Clint looked at the scene and immediately came over.

"His vomit is blue, Stark." He said and Tony looked at him in disbelief. Steve shivered and settled back against the stiff mattress. Clint moved back to Bruce and whispered something in his ear. Bruce turned and looked at Steve then Tony. He nodded to whatever Clint had said and started to move faster. It was silent for the whole night. Then Steve threw up again early in the morning, waking Tony up from a fleeting nightmare. Steve's puke was, once again, blue in color.

"I'm so sorry, Steve. If we...If I had noticed sooner, you wouldn't be like this. The bloody tissues were a dead giveaway." Tony was holding back tears again. "We'd be saving the world like it was no biggie." Then Bruce was busting into the room with a yellow vial clutched in his hand, a look of relief on his face when he saw Steve. He hurried over to the IV machine and inserted the vial into a compartment.

"Please work, come on." Bruce muttered as he watched the liquid in the vial drain into Steve's body. When it was all gone he grabbed a syringe and pulled a small amount of blood from Steve's arm. Tony watched as Bruce began to analyze the blood under a microscope. Bruce looked up and smiled at Tony and he returned it hopefully. Then, out of nowhere, Steve's eyes shot open and his chest rose into the air. He gasped and immediately went still. His eyes slowly closing. Tony was about to go off on Bruce when the other scientist placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's working. This is just his body fighting off the infection. Some of the serum was ejected from his body, hence the blue vomit. It will take some time but he will recover. I'm almost certain of it." Bruce said and left to do God-knows-what. Tony once again sat in the chair next to Steve.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Steve didn't know where he was or _when_ he was. Everywhere he looked he could see Times Square as it was in the 21st century but everyone was dressed in the 1940s style. Steve realized he was the only one dressed differently. He tried to talk to some of them but they either couldn't hear him or they were ignoring him. His body felt sore and his eyes were drooping in sleepiness. Then Tony was there, dressed in his usual suit, talking a million miles a minute. Steve gave up on trying to talk and listened to the billionaire. Tony linked their hands together and they began to walk, Tony kept talking enough for the both of them. His tone didn't match up with his expressions. One minute he would be saying it would be okay with a carefree smile then the next he would be saying he couldn't live without him with a frown. It was confusing to say the least.

Tony had never shone any interest in him romantically so Steve was amazed at how Tony poured out his feelings like it was okay to bare your entire being to the one person you seemed to hate. Then Steve started seeing images of Tony with red-rimmed eyes and intertwined hands resting on a white sheet. Of the other Avengers surrounding him(minus Thor) and a gentle kiss to his forehead. Then a burning sensation coursed through Steve's whole body and he let go of Tony's hand to grasp at his chest. Tony stopped and looked at him.

"What am I going to do with you?" Tony asked fondly and smiled his bright smile, the one that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and made him look much younger. Steve looked at him through the pain and saw Tony reach out to his cheek with the tips of his fingers. They were warm and then everything was whirling together in nothing but colors. The only colors left before everything went black were yellow and blue.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Steve gasped as he sat up in his makeshift bed. He took a moment before he moaned in pain and laid back down.

"Well apparently I'm not dead. It wouldn't hurt this much." Steve said and was then being smothered by someone. Then the person pulled back and Tony's face was revealed.

"You scared the crap out of me, Cap." Tony said as he felt the tears coming to the surface. They were about to overflow when a hand wrapped around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. Steve's lips found Tony's. It was a little awkward at first then they relaxed into it. Then Tony was pulling away with his nose wrinkled.

"I totally forgot you threw up just hours ago. Gross." Tony said as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Steve smiled because he felt better when Tony was joking. Then everyone else was coming in and giving him hugs and pats on the back. Bruce smiled and Tony hugged him tightly.

"You're awesome, Bruce." Tony said simply and Bruce blushed. He glanced quickly at Clint then looked away.

"Thanks." He said shyly. He told Steve it was great to have him back then he left the room. Clint followed shortly afterward. Tony and Natasha shared a knowing glance and both smiled.

"What happened to me?" Steve asked and Tony asked him what he remembered last. "Last thing I remember is looking at you Tony, then I think I fell." Steve said and rubbed his head. Tony took Steve's hand and squeezed it gently.

"You were really sick. Steve, a virus was attacking the super soldier serum in your body. You threw up blue stuff twice in the last twenty-four hours." Tony said then added, "Don't worry, you're okay. Bruce did tests after he gave you his suppressor antidote." Steve nodded his head and caught Natasha's fleeting glance.

"Tony, can you get me something to eat? I'm starving." Steve asked and Tony happily agreed. When Tony had left Steve looked at Natasha.

"Thank you for bringing down my fever, Natasha." Steve said and her posture straightened. "I was lucid for that at least, I thought it would be polite of me to say thank you." She looked at him with a new expression in her eyes and smiled.

"You're welcome, солда́т," She said quietly and Steve smiled at the word. "What are friends for?"


End file.
